Still don't have my 357!!!

[Barth]

So I check on my gun Saturday and it's like 80% done.
New stainless steel trigger assembly, trigger job, grips...
Everything except for the big dot front sight.
So it's suppose to be done later in the week.
Later in the week I go in for a status and I'm told the front sight
is pinned and they didn't have the right drill bit?
(funny cause my 342 big dig is pinned as well and was done a month ago)
So today I go back and still no bit. I go to Home depot, get
a set of Titanium DeWalt bits and drop them off at the gun shop.
Why would you complete 80% of a job and not finish?
How freaking hard is it to tap, drill and press in a front sight?
Just seems like no sense of urgency at all.

I think I'm drawing the line at Thanksgiving.
If it's not done, I'll take it back as is and square things for work done.
I'm about at the end of my tether on this one folks....

Hate feeling like this going into the Holidays...

[OldLincoln]

Sounds like he lost interest in that one. I hate it when that happens but it's pretty common to take a project to 95% then it wallows around. Especially when it's a $5M large project and the customer has a somewhat hard deadline. We used to say in the software develop industry it take 85% of the schedule to get it 75% complete and another 85% to finish it. But on a single gun? Weird, unless he messed up along the way and wants to delay getting found out.

[Barth]

Sounds like he lost interest in that one. I hate it when that happens but it's pretty common to take a project to 95% then it wallows around. Especially when it's a $5M large project and the customer has a somewhat hard deadline. We used to say in the software develop industry it take 85% of the schedule to get it 75% complete and another 85% to finish it. But on a single gun? Weird, unless he messed up along the way and wants to delay getting found out.

Yup, just weird.
I held the gun in my hand and tested the trigger job on Saturday.
Triggers like butter, better than expected.
Grips fit perfect.
Everything looks and feel perfect.
Just no Big Dot on the nose.

Only thing I can figure is I keep dropping by for status rather than wait on a phone call that it's done.
I feel like I'm being punished - LOL!

Thing is this guy didn't call when my 342 was done.
I just stopped by and it was done.

Plus when my Sig slide was damaged there was no call either.
I had to physically stop my to find out....
So I'm not big on just waiting for calls that so far have never happened.
Particularly when you damage someones property accidentally.
Shouldn't you inform them immediately?

I'm really trying to not be the bad guy here.
And I know this guy doesn't like being pushed.
But I feel like I'm not being kept properly informed.

[ltxi]

Methinks 'twere it me, I'd find another 'smith.

[gb6491]

...
How freaking hard is it to tap, drill and press in a front sight?
...
The Big Dot has to be fitted to the slot in the barrel. It can take a little bit of time to do it properly:smash:
It's not a project where you want to rush anything; sometimes you just have to get your mind right before you begin.
http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/xs.html

Regards,
Greg

[Bawanna]

I can plus 1 on the getting your mind right. This is especially true of anything complicated. Checkering and fitting revolver grips comes to my mind.
If your head isn't in it you might as well go do something else. Sometimes I can force my way through but usually my end product suffers expotentially.

Damn that's a big ass bawanna word right there. Sort rolled right off the keyboard to just like an edjumacated person.

[Barth]

I'm getting the art more than science drift here.
It's not just building a fence or baking a cake.
I thought a pinned front sight was child's play for a skilled pistol smith.
The work i've gotten done in the past, albeit after a long wait,
has been flawless and beautiful.

There are always things I'm not privy to that are in the mix as well.
I heard this guy had to take some time off for an illness in the family as well.
Definitely could be head not in it right now thingy.

I need to be more patient and respectful of things I don't fully know
or understand.

Time for an attitude adjustment for the holidays - LOL!
Thanks for all your thoughts guys.
Seems like I've got some real friends here at Kahrtalk.
It's good to have friends...

[tv_racin_fan]

I took my GP100 to have a scope mount installed. The smith told me three weeks... it was more than a month before I got it back.I have been told the guy does good work but is kinda flaky on the time frame.

[Barth]

So to keep my obsessive self in check, I decided to shoot a few boxes
of extra hot Speer 125/357 duty ammo (1375 fps) out of the Glock.
I get like three FTFs! )_*(&_(*&_(*&(((((.

Mad as hell I head home, throw in the EXO 40 barrel and grab 5 full mags
of Speer 155 gr 40 cal duty ammo (94 rounds) and head back to the range.

Now, with the EXO 40 barrel, the damn thing is flawless.

While I’m there the first gunsmith sees me and says hello but nothing else.
A second gunsmith, not the one that has my 640-1, says he put the sight on
yesterday with the drill bits I bought. Come by and he will have the original guy
charge me for the trigger job! OMG I can’t believe it.

With much thanks to the second gunsmith that saved the day,
I finally have my 357 for the holidays. Woo Hoo!

Now for the much anticipated range test with various high/medium/low powered
38 +P and 357 Magnum ammo.

I’m totally shocked and happy that at the last minute things actually worked out.

Barth and his new stainless 357 lived happily ever after – LOL!

[gb6491]

Congrats! I'm glad it's back home. You know there's just something about the .357 that I like. Shoot, even the name is cool: "S&W 357 MAGNUM" in capital letters, no brag, just the facts. It's like a billboard that shouts "REQUESTS FOR VIOLENCE HONORED HERE."
http://i41.tinypic.com/2ylo021.jpg
Regards,
Greg

[OldLincoln]

I'd be downright too embarrassed to charge you for any of the labor. How bad is it when the customer buys the smithy drill bits so he can do his job? Since the second guy did the work, I wonder if the first is capable.

[Barth]

Congrats! I'm glad it's back home. You know there's just something about the .357 that I like. Shoot, even the name is cool: "S&W 357 MAGNUM" in capital letters, no brag, just the facts. It's like a billboard that shouts "REQUESTS FOR VIOLENCE HONORED HERE."
http://i41.tinypic.com/2ylo021.jpg
Regards,
Greg

I know.
It's kind of like James Dean.
Just plain cool.
And nobody's going to argue with that...
https://www.t-mobilepictures.com/myalbum/photos/photo29/4e/18/3c5b3cc39f1f__1321654061000.jpg

BTW Happy Thanksgiving!

[Barth]

I'd be downright too embarrassed to charge you for any of the labor. How bad is it when the customer buys the smithy drill bits so he can do his job? Since the second guy did the work, I wonder if the first is capable.

Second smith said the drill bits covered the labor for installing the Big Dot sight and we were square.

The first gunsmith seemed a bit sheepish about it all.
He charged me $55 for the action job that he had already performed.
The posted rate is $85 - LOL!

The first gunsmith is capable.
I love the action jobs on my two J-frames he did.
Still, like someone stated earlier, the guys just real flaky.

[OldLincoln]

Well, no matter. You got it back and are happy with it, that's whats important. Give it a big hug from all of us! :)